Despite some hopeful rumours, don’t expect to see George Clooney, Hugh Laurie or any of the cast of Tomorrowland shooting in Summerland over the next month.
“I think people are confusing it with my name,” said Jon Summerland, the Okanagan film commissioner. All the scenes for Tomorrowland will be shot around Enderby, starting on Aug. 19.
“We have had a shoot there (Summerland) already this year, and we have another one looking, but they’re not in the same realm,” said Summerland.
“They are Lifetime channel movie of the weeks, which are still great, they employ a lot of people and they’re fabulous, but there is no George Clooney.”
So, unless Clooney decides to come visit the Penticton Farmers Market or other area attractions, people in the South Okanagan are unlikely to catch a glimpse.
He should be easy to spot though, if he does do some touring; he’ll be the guy wearing dark sunglasses and sweating under a bushy false beard.
But there is hope, Summerland said, for some star sightings in the South Okanagan next year.
“There is definitely a very large movie on the heels of this very large movie that is looking predominantly down south.
It probably won’t book until February, and shoot in April/May,” he said adding that it is just as high profile as Tomorrowland. “They aren’t just sort of looking, they’ve been here a number of times.”
Tomorrowland, according to Summerland, is something of a breakthrough movie for the Okanagan film industry. Even though he has a long history in the film industry, Summerland admits he was awestruck of the group that came through for the final location scout.
“There were 21 of them and every one of them had won Oscars,” said Summerland.
“This was not a small boutique company. This was the guys. If you think of a movie that you love, one of the guys in that group worked on that movie.”
Summerland drove them all over the region including the South Okanagan, but it was Enderby that had the look and feel they wanted.
“We want this to showcase our area, because this is it. This is the one that is going to take us to the next level,” said Summerland. “It is a major production and if they have a pleasant experience here, who knows.”
The region is getting more attention from the film industry, Summerland said, with more productions planning to shoot here all the time.
“The Okanagan is getting almost too big for my little budget to handle. I’ve got two films scouting, one film shooting, and another one where the director is in town with a scout,” said Summerland.
“That’s the way it’s been all year, we’ve had non stop activity. But it gets expensive for a tiny little budget like this.”
